My new variety of lily plant originated as a seedling, which first flowered in 't Zand, Netherlands in 1986. The breeding efforts had as their objective the production of shorter Asiatic hybrid lilies with deep red buds and flowers, suited to forcing into flower out of season, heretofore unknown in the lily breeding art.
I achieved the desired objective by intercrossing Lilium `Charisma` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 4,180) with Lilium `Red Carpet`(unpatented). The buds and flowers of my new lily are characterized by an upfacing to slightly outfacing orientation, large size, and a deep red color. The clone possesses unusually short, strong, stout stems. In addition, the clone possesses to a high degree desirable characteristics of hybrid vigor. The clone is a good grower and propagator, as observed at 't Zand, Netherlands.
My new variety of lily plant has been asexually reproduced by me and under my direction at 't Zand, Netherlands. Successive generations produced by natural propagation from bulblets, by bulb scale propagation, and by tissue culturing from bulb scale explants have demonstrated that the novel and distinctive characteristics of my new variety are fixed and hold true under asexual propagation from generation to generation.
The most closely related plant known to myself is a sibling plant from the same cross named `Scarlet Dwarf`. This sibling is the subject of a copending application. While `Red Dwarf` and `Scarlet Dwarf` are similar in size, plant confirmation and flower characteristics, they are easily distinguished by the fact that the ovaries of `Red Dwarf` are inconspicuous and nearly the red color of the tepals, while those of `Scarlet Dwarf` are much more conspicuous, being near straw color even when grown under cool or intensely illuminated conditions. Moreover, both the inner and outer tepals of `Scarlet Dwarf` are slightly ruffled by marginal undulations, while such undulations are virtually confined to the inner tepals of `Red Dwarf` and appear only on flowers that have been open for several days. The tepals of `Red Dwarf` are less stiff, causing them to reflex more at the tips than those of `Scarlet Dwarf`. The flowers of `Red Dwarf` are noticeably flatter than those of `Scarlet Dwarf`.